Good Wednesday, everyone. Severe weather rumbles across the region today ahead of a potent cold front slamming through the region. That brings a few flakes into the region by Thursday morning with a bigger blast of winter lurking by Monday. Ugh.
Our day starts with a few strong to severe storms rumbling across parts of western and central Kentucky. Outside of the storm action, temps today surge into the 75-80 degree range on a strong southwest wind.
Strong to severe storms fire across the west this afternoon and roll eastward through the evening, bringing severe weather during the afternoon and evening. Cold air crashed in behind that Wednesday night with the chance for some snowflakes to show up across central and eastern Kentucky.
The future radar from the Hi Res NAM shows all this well…
The Storm Prediction Center continues to blanket the entire region in today’s Severe Weather Outlook…
The threat for a few tornadoes is there today. Here’s the Tornado Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center…
Damaging wind is the main threat…
Some areas may see large hail…
Temps may reach 80 in some areas across central and eastern Kentucky Wednesday afternoon before going toward the freezing mark by Thursday morning. Wind chills will reach the middle 20s, making it feel more than 50 degrees colder than it did just 15 hours or so earlier.
Wind crank as temps jump back up Friday and Saturday. 40mph gusts are a good bet.
The setup for Sunday and Monday is wild with 70s on Sunday with showers and strong storms ahead of a potent system. That goes by and temps drop into the 20s Sunday night and early Monday with wind chills in the teens. Oh yea, some snow showers are likely as temps stay below freezing on Monday…
We go from well above to Barney in just a few hours..
Another update comes your way later today and I’ll be on WKYT with any severe weather coverage. Until then, here are all the storm tracking tools you need to start the week…
Current watches
Possible Watch Areas
Make it a wonderful Wednesday and take care.
A major severe weather outbreak occurred across Northern and Central IL late Tuesday afternoon and evening with multiple severe thunderstorms containing very large hail, along with a strong, destructive tornado that hit near Kankakee IL (60 miles S of Chicago) that caused extensive damage. There were numerous reports of large hail throughout the Chicago Metro Area.
An area of low pressure that moved across a stationary front along the I-80 corridor in Northern IL helped fuel the outbreak. Temperatures north of the front were only in the low 40s, while south of the front saw temps in the 70s.
It’s very rare for such a prolific severe weather outbreak to occur so early in the season here.
Mike, that Kankakee storm was a monster wedge funnel, very likely an EF-4. The fact that so much of the severe activity took place after dark amplified the terror.
We’re not really getting blasted with winter. 🙂